“Coco is a comic force of nature.”
Comedian Max Norman brings his famed cult persona Coco to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe stage in Coco: The Time Travelling Tart. This wildly interactive show sees Coco bring history to life in a chaotic, but truly hilarious, hour of comedy. Introverts, run and hide, Coco’s coming!
Coco has lost her beloved pearl earring and needs the audience’s help to travel through time to find it. With stops in Ancient Egypt, the Minotaur’s labyrinth in Knossos, the Titanic and the Court of Versailles, among others, Coco desperately searches for her missing jewel while giving audiences a warped whistle-stop tour through some of history’s most legendary moments.
A discreet-looking, purple-painted wooden cabin in the middle of Edinburgh’s bustling Fringe hub of George Square becomes the setting for this time-travelling adventure. The staggeringly tall Coco bursts into the venue decked out like The Twilight Zone‘s take on Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly. No one is safe as Coco quickly sets about finding her very own Slave Boy, choosing a game young man from the audience to don a pink fluffy collar and attached lead. Slave Boy’s duties involve serving as a makeshift horse, crawling around the venue and indulging in some of Coco’s favourite champagne, Twatinger.
Audience interaction is key to the success of the show and, given the different audiences in attendance each night, it has an unpredictable and chaotic flair that showcases Coco’s improvisational comic chops. Audience members step into the roles of Sir Walter Raleigh, engaging in an elegant comic courting dance with Coco, Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit, and Marie Antoinette, who finds herself drenched in champers by Coco. Others delight in acting as Coco’s makeshift time-travelling taxi seats, ready to be straddled in a variety of poses.
Coco is a comic force of nature and, even with the madcap nature of the show, remains firmly in control throughout. The star cultivates such a fun and high-energy atmosphere that the audience is more than happy to embrace the silliness, making this a scrappy and feel-good experience. There are some wider points about the importance of art and the power of history, but Coco: The Time Travelling Tart is at its best when the humour is boundary-pushing and truly manic.
You’ll be crying with laughter when Coco introduces Napoleon to the stage and things get a little steamy between the pair. Not every moment quite hits the same comic heights, however. Coco stuffing her mouth with Fondant Fancies to I Dreamed a Dream is one such moment that may have you looking away rather than laughing.
Coco: The Time Travelling Tart is a gloriously chaotic and wonderfully unpredictable hour in the company of a comic character who refuses to let either history or the audience remain respectable. Max Norman’s fearless improvisation and Coco’s larger-than-life presence ensure that no two performances are likely to be the same. Wild, interactive and completely unrestrained, this is a Fringe experience for those willing to throw themselves into the madness. Introverts, however, have been warned.
Coco: The Time Travelling Tart plays at the Underbelly Bristo Square. Tickets are available here.
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